The manifesto of Bristol label Banoffee Pies is very simple. No frill or fuss, just two guys putting out a steady, highly varied but top quality stream of music, pointing their noses and ears where few others do. To give you a feel we’ve included some Banoffee guest mixes, ranging from Disco (Jascha Hagen), all-vinyl (Jon Kennedy), instrumental hip-hop (Hit Ya Wit That Crew) and deep house/tech (FIPS). With no website, and very few words to accompany what they put out, the age-old cliché of letting the music do the talking is actually rather applicable. Here, however, we’ve sought to ruin all that by getting under the skin of co-founder Ell Weston in Banoffee’s first ever interview. Accompanying the words is a mix by Banoffee resident Pilau, the first in a series that was shows the character and versatility of this new and exciting Bristol player.
Download Banoffee Pies Bristol Spotlight Mix. Tracklist on Soundcloud.
For those not in the know, what is Banoffee Pies and who’s involved? There are a lot of different Banana-related elements to the set-up so, for our sake at least, could you explain the different parts?
We (Elliot and Sandy) met in Bristol through mutual friends and quickly discovered we shared the same music interests. We soon had the idea to start our own thing and try do something a bit different. Banoffee Pies is a music label looking to expose DJs, signed and unsigned, that we feel need to be recognised. We will be putting on a range of different events, hosting rooms at different parties and various sponsorships for different labels. Following on from sister clothing company Dr. Banana, run by Sandy, we have some other limited edition merchandise and collaborations dropping soon.
And in no way knocking your name choice, but why the fascination with bananas?
We thought it was something that would stick out to people. We wanted to try and set ourselves apart form a lot of other small nights and labels that try to be very sleek and serious and go for something that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Bananas seemed like a catchy theme to follow at the time and it just escalated. Also, Banoffee Pies are a pretty underrated desert; we thought we’d give them some air time.
From where we were sitting you landed in Bristol a bit out of the blue but you hit the ground running and seemed to have a pretty strong idea of what you wanted to do. How did BP come about and why?
The whole thing was quite spontaneous. I approached Sandy with the suggestion of Banoffee Pies early in March and from there we started to put things into place and launched by the end of the month. Since then we’ve been trying to build a following and show people what we are about. Sister company Dr. Banana had been running initially by Sandy but the two of us saw some more fun to be had in the music and events side to things. We also wanted the chance to bring smaller, lesser know DJs, and producers to light and do our own thing. We are both very passionate about music and the industry, so when it came to getting things moving we had a bit of experience from things that had been going on around us so we knew exactly what we liked and wanted to do. Big love to all the banana people.
Where would you like to see BP this time next year?
We have high aspirations and have lots of ideas flying about for the future, but we are realistic so we will have to see where the Pies take us. In a years time, we hope to host some funky events in Bristol and around the UK, sponsorships for labels, or fingers crossed, a festival would be the bomb. We want to get involved with upcoming talents and creative cats to bring some different things to the table, so we urge anyone doing there own individual thing to get in touch. I guess we will have to wait and see!
What was the idea behind the mix you made for us? Any standout tracks or ones close to the soft, mushy heart of the Banoffee Family?
For the first in our mix series we went to Pilau who will be playing at our boat party in Leeds at the end of this month: “The mix is all about high energy, keeping things interesting and, most importantly, getting people dancing. I generally have an idea of where I want a mix to go, but most of the time the tracks speak for themselves.” (Pilau)
There are a couple real nice grooves on the tracklist from lesser-known DJs still packing a big punch. For Junior by Admin, is a nice slow tempo tune with a dope Outkast sample on loop.
Are there any up-and-coming Bristol names you’re into at the moment?
At the moment, and as always, there is a lot of talent coming out of Bristol so it’s hard to not give you a list. At this time we’ve got a good eye on Admin. His recent track on Glasgow Underground, This World, is just another of his on point tunes. His range of slow tempo house tracks, to disco and other styles are real fresh. Also check out this Disco Edits mix Admin put together for us a while back, it’s a good boogie. There are so many artists doing their own special thing at the minute. Hopefully we can continue to showcase those catching our ears.
And finally, what’s happening on the Banoffee front with live dates, mixes and Slices?
Live Dates: Our first event was a small doo down at the Tower Belle back in June which went down nicely. In the pipe line we have a few things including another boat party in Leeds on the last weekend of September with our residents, and we will be hosting a room for the Real Nice Recordings guys in Bristol on the 4th of October for a label showcase night. Our first main event will soon be disclosed along with other Bristol parties. Eyes peeled please.
Mixes: Various mixes coming in from some very exciting guests including our friends at Luv Shak Records, Jakobin and Domino, which we’re very excited about. Be sure to check out Luv Shak for vibes! Also there’s something incoming from a couple guys we met in Amsterdam from the WNDWLCKERS label from Gotham City. We try to avoid sticking to one particular style or genre. There’s too much going on across different scenes for that. Stay tuned.
Slices: We are happy to announce the release of our first EP Slice, On My Mind, from our man Kesper in the coming week. One to watch. We have various others coming in the future, another from our resident Rufus with a spin on a Gangster house track with some stripped back sounds. No one likes the house gangster.
